Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) Starring Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Logan Kim, Paul Rudd, Annie Potts, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson. Directed by Jason Reitman. Screenplay by Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman Based on Ghostbusters by Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis. Produced by Ivan Reitman. Run time: 124 minutes. Color. USA. Supernatural Comedy
When Ghostbusters was released in 1984, it was a huge
success. With a budget of around $30 million, the film would earn $282.2 million
during its initial theatrical run, making it the second-highest-grossing film
of 1984 in the United States and Canada, and the then-highest-grossing comedy
ever, and making its theme song, "Ghostbusters"
by Ray Parker Jr., a number-one hit. Its success would lead to the popular
animated television series The Real Ghostbusters (1986), its sequel Extreme
Ghostbusters (1997), video games, board games, comic books, clothing,
music, and haunted attractions. It would also naturally spawn a sequel film, Ghostbusters
II (1989), which wasn’t as successful either financially or critically.
Of course, this being Hollywood, and there is nothing more
tempting than an old IP, there was a reboot Ghostbusters (2016), that
switched out the male roles for female leads and really didn’t advance the
franchise forward.
In some ways, the original film didn’t have a proper sequel
until Ghostbusters: Afterlife was released in November 2021. Being a
theatrical release, the film was not one that we at Trophy Unlocked were
willing to risk seeing. But now that it has been released for home video, we
were anxious to see the film.
